With the news that the government is monitoring our phone calls, emails, and other private information through a program called PRISM, Americans (both citizens and lawmakers) are engaged in a debate over the merits of giving up individual freedom to protect against a greater threat: terrorism. Throughout our country's history, and especially in the last six months since the shootings at Sandy Hook, similar debates have emerged surrounding gun control laws.

An article on opposingviews.com combines the two threat’s statistics over the last year:

The single terrorist attack this year occurred at the Boston Marathon, leaving four fatalities. Since January 1st 2013, there have been eleven deaths due to shootings where the shooter was between three and six years old.

Now of course, does that mean toddlers are more dangerous than terrorists? No, obviously. But it does mean that guns that are accessible to young children or anyone who has no proper training or a license is a threat to the most innocent of people (usually other children).

The article continues to point out that “in 2010, 13,186 people died in terrorist attacks worldwide, while 31,672 people were killed with firearms in America alone.” This is not to say that one act is worse than the other, but it is certainly interesting to look at those statistics and see the extreme measures we take as a country to prevent one but and barely regulate the other. There are many practical reasons for regulating, controlling, and investigating terrorism. However, if we are going to protect Americans from one major threat, stricter regulations on guns and weapons should in no way be out of the question as well.

At the very least, I’m sure everyone can agree that there is no way guns should be allowed in the hands of young children. Though we can’t protect America’s youth from everything harmful, we can at least spare them the pain of accidents that will haunt them for the rest of their lives. We have to look at how children gain access to these weapons and teach kids that guns are not toys. Parents, guardians, or any gun owner who has young children around should know better than to keep weapons in places that a toddler could access. Let's keep these weapons out of tiny hands.